#Hottakes #9: All isn’t forgiven, Chris Brown

Happy Black History Month my loves. I hope everyone had the month they deserve. While celebrating Black History Month like the black queen that I am, I got to enjoy the Rihanna halftime performance. While I loved every minute of the Rihanna halftime performance, it seems like this subject never seems to fade while we’re talking about Rihanna which is Chris Brown. The ill-fated relationship rears its ugly head whenever Rihanna is the topic of conversation and I speak for all of us when I say, we’re tired. Chris Brown has a history of abuse that goes beyond what he did to Rihanna that affected others, his abusive tendencies never stopped yet here we are being policed to forgive someone who’s an all-around shitty person. Those who can’t seem to understand why abusers aren’t easily forgiven, I’ll help you understand.

Chris Brown has been a star since he was 19 years old. As everyone knows when you’re a teenager you make mistakes but that comes with the guarantee that we learn and grow from these mistakes. Since Grammy night in 2009, there hasn’t been much growth with Chris Brown with his violent behavior and it seemingly got worse. Two years after the Rihanna incident, Chris Brown had an interview on the Today Show with Robin Roberts. When asked about the domestic abuse case, he stormed off to his dressing room and proceeded to break a window. And the relationship post Rihanna with Karrueche Tran, they were together for four years and Karruche detailed abusive behaviors from Chris Brown. In 2014, they officially broke up because she found out that Chris had gotten another woman pregnant. In 2017, she filed a restraining order and come forward that she was abused by Chris Brown, and said that he threatened to kill her. She quoted “He said if no one else can have me, then he’s gonna ‘take me out.’” Singer KayCola came to Karrueche’s defense and confirmed in a series of tweets that she heard him beating Karruche and heard her screaming in agony and that she even called the police as she is also a victim of domestic violence. Karrueche details that Chris Brown punched her in the stomach and pushed her down the stairs a few years prior and no police report was filed as Chris Brown was still on probation for his assault on Rihanna in 2009. Karrueche has since filed a permanent restraining order against Chris Brown and won. Different from the rest but still notable Frank Ocean was also a victim of Chris Brown’s violent behavior. In 2013, it was reported that Chris Brown jumped Frank Ocean after Frank Ocean declined to shake his hand. It was reported that he punched the side of Frank Ocean’s face while two other men proceeded to jump Frank Ocean while calling him the f slur. Chris Brown also threatened to kill Frank Ocean during that occurrence.

The list goes on with abuse that women (and Frank Ocean) have faced at the hands of Chris Brown. Yet, we’re still being told that he was just a child and it was just a mistake and we should forgive him. Chris Brown has been forgiven his entire career and that’s why he still flourished even after he abused Rihanna. Around the time the attack against Rihanna happened, he was still invited to perform at the BET awards, and do a Michael Jackson tribute act where he broke down and cried because of his idol. He was coddled, protected, and loved even though she just had a domestic violence scandal. Within two weeks of the domestic violence scandal, he was still being talked about in black media. Chris Brown went on to have such a successful career after, he was still able to crank out music as if nothing happened, be in high social circles, and still be adorned in the black community. It was to point out that the abuse that he has committed on these people became a joke. As recent as 2022, Chris Brown received an American Music Award which Kelly accepted on his behalf. The Award was at first met with silence until Kelly Rowland said to ‘give him his flowers’. She then goes to TMZ and says “I believe that grace is very real, and we all need a dose of it,” and “And before we point fingers at anybody, we should realize how grateful we are for every moment that we get... I just think it’s important to remember to be human. We are humans.” She then says “We all need to be forgiven for anything that we could be doing. Anything that we’re thinking,” And that’s what bothers me, people like that who say he should be forgiven we all make mistakes. We as the outsiders looking in, owe Chris Brown absolutely, nothing. While celebrities should be looking at the people who he has abused and see if they actually forgive them, or how they feel about being abused by them. They’re hell-bent on saving his reputation and image to the public who choose not to support him. There are people who are hesitant on supporting him, but for the most part, he was met with open arms to flip the narrative and act like he was a troubled soul, and that he learned from his actions.

As any celebrity would, they have a fan base that defends them to the very end. Chris Brown has been defended by his own fans and celebrities throughout his entire career, some even comparing him to Michael Jackson (lol). I’ve noticed over the years that the people he has abused have always been painted in a negative light after having a run-in with him. With Rihanna, we always slut shamed immediately after and it was made to look like she provoked the fight and made him beat on her. Still to this day, there are people on social media apps that say that Rihanna admitted to her faults in the fight when that is not what she said. Karrueche was made a joke. When Chris Brown would stalk her, it would become a meme that people used all while her abuse is being documented and laughed at. And any woman who had something to say against Chris Brown was made out to be like she was a hater, or that she was lying, or that she was tearing a black man down. At what point do we say the facts? That he IS an abuser. Is everyone just lying to him? Why can no one step forward and be believed by the public? We are in an era of the #metoo movement and it’s obvious that we still have a long way to go with how we handle abusers.

Chris Brown has been an abuser as long as I have been tracking pop culture, and nothing has changed. Chris Brown and his celebrity acquaintances need to stop policing how we react toward abusers and instead search internally about why they aren’t getting much support. It goes beyond it, just being a support towards Rihanna, but rather not enabling toxic behavior in general, but more specifically in the black community. Abusers have been protected there, specially protected in Hollywood. When is enough, enough? When someone dies at the hands of a man who has never been held accountable? If we want to change, we had to hold people accountable as they come out with toxic traits. Yes, we are all human. But humans learn from their mistakes and we don’t make them again. To make the same mistake for 10+ years it’s obvious you have not learned anything, but instead, just learn to move on. I hope all domestic abuse survivors continue to come forward and continue to hold their abusers accountable and continue to make their voices be heard, and not be silenced by those who are in power or those who try to silence them.

That's all for today! I hope we move on from this conversation in the future because SHIT it's tiring to cover. Have an amazing rest of your black history and I'll see you guys next post!

Cherokee💓

RIHANNA Super Bowl Halftime Show 2023

RIHANNA ━ Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show (February 12, 2023)

RIHANNA LOOK OUT

RIHANNA fixing her makeup during the 57th Super Bowl halftime show

i can’t believe rihanna’s surprise guest was the baby in her belly

tbh i was rly expecting her to bring out tom holland for umbrella

what an incredible flex for Rihanna to bring out no guests, especially after all the speculation. she is a main event, she's a whole ass show. just her and the michelin men. i respect the fuck out of that.

RIHANNA Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show (February 12, 2023)

Why does Rihanna look like a vengeful Whoville resident that slaughtered and skinned the Grinch.

RIHANNA ━ Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show (February 12, 2023)